


A Week with a Kitten

by writing_with_tea



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Kitten, Lucky Charm, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-07 02:18:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18863725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_with_tea/pseuds/writing_with_tea
Summary: The Liberator seeks to free all animals from their cages and let them out into the wild. All is going like normal, until the Lucky Charm Ladybug summons is a living kitten! She is able to capture the akuma, but can't make things go back to normal. Now, Ladybug and Chat Noir have to spend a whole week finding the animals in the forest and bringing each one back to the zoo, all while taking care of a red kitten with black polka dots.





	1. Liberator

Ladybug dipped out of the way just in time as a tiger ran past her. She cursed silently and slung her yo-yo across the street to a tall building. A tug and she was flying through the air seconds before an elephant stepped where she had just been.  


“Chat Noir!” she shouted. “A little help?”  


“I’m a little busy at the moment.” She looked over and saw him struggling to hold back a monkey, panda, and lemur from following the rest of the animals. A beeping on his ring signaled he only had three minutes left.  


“Lucky charm!” She caught in her arms, red with black spots, as usual…  


“A kitten?” she asked. The furry animal meowed. “A live kitten?”  


“I always imagined our kids would have your coloring,” Chat Noir said. Ladybug groaned, but couldn’t help laughing a little. He could make a pun no matter what situation he was in.  


Ladybug thought for a moment, looking around the Paris streets. Riding a zebra nearby, Liberator held high her sign, her other hand keeping her balance on the animal.  


“Hey Liberator!” Ladybug yelled. The woman turned to her and Ladybug tossed the kitten towards her.  


“My baby!” Chat Noir yelped. But his worries were absolved when the Liberator dropped her sign to catch the small kitten. Ladybug swooped down to grab the sign and swiftly cracked it in half over her knee.  


“No more evil doing for you little akuma!” She continued through her usual shpeel. “Time to de-evilize! Gotcha! Bye-bye, little butterfly.”  


She paused. Liberator, now back to Gemma with the de-evilized akuma, still held the black-spotted kitten. Ladybug held out her arms, and Gemma obliged, a little disoriented. The kitten in her arms, the super heroine felt it purr. It was really alive.  


“Um…” she gave Chat Noir an unsure look. He wasn’t much help, too wrapped up in how cute the little animal was.  


“Ugh, I’ll just do it.” Ladybug took a breath, then held the kitten above her head. “Miraculous Ladybug!”  


Nothing.  


She brought the kitten back down to her chest. Maybe she had to throw it. As gently as possible, she tossed it about a centimeter into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug.”  


Again, nothing.  


Her earrings beeped, she only had two minutes, and Chat Noir was almost out.  


“Let’s recuperate and meet up again,” she said. He nodded, and she swung a few blocks over and fell into her room through the sky-light, all the while holding the kitten. Her powers dropped, and Tikki appeared in front of her.  


“Why can’t I change things back?” Marinette asked the kwami. She was now back in her usual outfit, but the kitten stayed in her arms. She grabbed a cookie from her desk for Tikki.  


“I don’t know,” Tikki said in between bites. “None of the other ladybugs have ever summoned a living creature.” Her strength beginning to come back, she flew closer to the kitten, who mewed and tried to paw at her.  


“And why a cat? Why not a dog or a bunny or a guinea pig?” Marinette gasped. “Oh my god! All of those animals are still running towards the forest. We need to find them!” She paused. “Or maybe I should go see Master Fu? No, the animals come first! Oh, Tikki, I don’t know what to do!” She collapsed onto her bed.  


“The longer the animals stay out in the forest, the more they’ll disturb the natural environment!” Tikki squeaked. Marinette composed herself, and nodded.  


“You’re right.” She carefully placed the kitten down on her bed, then pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Tikki, spots on!”  


Ladybug swept up the kitten and swung out of her room. She came to land on a rooftop and called Chat Noir.  


“Come on, Kitty, pick up.” The miraculous kitten pawed at her yo-yo. “Not you, kitty.” When Ladybug got no answer, she sighed and held the kitten in front of her face. “What do I call you?”  


“How about Little Lady?” the familiar voice said behind her. She turned to face Chat Noir just to roll her eyes at him.  


“We can’t actually name her. She’s not even supposed to be here anymore.”  


“What do you think we should do, then?”  


Ladybug put her chin in her hand, thinking through each aspect of the issue at hand. “Luckily, there was little damage beyond the zoo, and no one was turned to stone or changed in some way. The main issue is finding all of the animals that escaped, and to do that, we first need to know how many are missing.”  


“Zoo it is!” Chat Noir rocketed off in the direction of the Ménagerie. Ladybug followed, a little slower with the tiny kitten still cradled in her arms. The two found Otis Césaire and asked him about the missing animals.  


“I’ve begun compiling a list of all of them,” Otis said, showing them the list. Already, there were at least 20 items on it. “I only have a few more cages to check, and then I can get you the official number.”  


The two superheroes nodded and sat down on one of the zoo’s benches while they waited. Ladybug petted the kitten, who purred at her touch.  


“What do we do with Little Lady?” Chat said. “Should we find someone to take care of her? It’ll be hard to find all those other animals with her along.”  


“I don’t think we can hand her off to someone else,” Ladybug sighed. “I…created her. She’s my responsibility.” She grimaced. “Also, we’re not calling her Little Lady. If you’re so bent on naming her, don’t name her after me.”  


“Well like you said, you created her. She’s basically your child.”  


Ladybug shook her head at the notion. “She’s more like a pet, and if I had any choice in the matter, I wouldn’t’ve even gotten a cat.”  


“What pet do you prefer?”  


“Hamster.” Ladybug wasn’t looking, but Chat’s eyes widened in love when she said that. Then Otis came back and interrupted their conversation.  


“Alright, here’s the final list.” He handed it to Chat Noir, then turned to Ladybug with a worried look on his face. “Why didn’t everything revert back like it usually does?”  


Ladybug sighed. “I don’t know.” She looked down at the kitten, falling asleep in her arms. “Maybe…” She trailed off, and instead gave Otis a reassuring smile. “We will find all of your animals and bring them back to you as soon as possible.” With a little salute, she swung off, followed by Chat Noir.  


The two came to a stop at the top of a nearby building. They skimmed the list of animals, 25 in all.  


“This is going to take a while,” Ladybug said.  


“Are they all in the forest?”  


“They must be. That’s where Liberator sent them.” Ladybug tried to mentally calculate the whole situation. “I don’t think we can find them all in one day.”  


“But we have to find them as soon as possible.”  


“So no taking breaks unless we need them.”  


The two looked at each other, coming to terms with the task ahead of them.  


“I know a place we can stay in the forest,” Chat offered.  


“You do?”  


“There’s a cabin near a river there that no one ever visits.” Chat Noir looked away from Ladybug. “I’d have to go ahead and scope it out to be sure, but I think it will work.”  


“Wow, that would be perfect!” A hint of a smile began to appear on Ladybug’s face, but disappeared when she remembered what else they had to do. “We also need to find some excuse for why we’ll be gone for days on end.”  


Chat grimaced, knowing how difficult that would be with his father. “Guess we’ll have to do that separately.”  


“Go get enough supplies for…let’s say a week,” Ladybug said. “I’ll do the same and also get stuff for the cat. Send me the location of the cabin and I’ll meet you there in an hour.” She swung off back to the roof of her room.  


“Spots off.” Tikki appeared before her. The two exchanged a look of worry.  


“How are you going to explain this to your parents, Marinette?”  


“I’m not sure.” Marinette looked down at the kitten once more. She wasn’t sure how easily she could carry it around with her all the time, so she set it down and went to work. With scraps from past sewing projects, she crafted an over-the-shoulder bag just big enough to host the kitten securely, but also able to close over it when she needed to hide the furry creature. The black color of the bag also didn’t clash with her outfit, so that helped.  


“At least it’s summer,” Marinette said. “I only have to explain my absence to my parents and probably Alya, not my teachers.” She gasped, an idea coming to her. Picking up her phone, she dialed Alya, who picked up almost immediately.  


“Hey, girl!” her best friend said. “Have you seen my latest post on the Ladyblog? The Lucky Charm object was a cat, and Ladybug couldn’t return things to normal! I’m about to go interview my dad at the zoo. What’s up with you?”  


“Alya, I need your help, but I can’t tell you why.”  


“What do you mean?”  


“I’m going to tell my parents that I’m spending the week with you at your aunt’s house in Lyon, can you back me up on that if they call you?”  


“Why do you need to be away for a week?”  


Marinette sighed. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t tell you.”  


There was a pause on the other end, and for a moment, Marinette was worried Alya would refuse. Then, her voice came back, excited.  


“Wait a minute, Nino just told me that Adrien asked him to cover for him for a week. Are you two…!?”  


“Yes!” It was a lie, but better than having Alya be curious. “We’re spending the week together. But please don’t tell anyone, we’re trying to keep it a secret because of how strict his father is.”  


“Of course! But you have to tell me everything once you come back!”  


Marinette promised to do so, and hung up the phone.  


“Ugh! I can’t believe I lied to my best friend!” She sighed and flopped onto her desk chair.  


“You had to, Marinette,” Tikki said. “No one can know you’re Ladybug.”  


“I know, but it still feels icky.” Marinette stood up, recomposing herself. “Now I gotta go lie to my parents.”  


That lie was a little easier for her to tell, since it didn’t elicit such an emotional reaction from them. While she was down in the bakery, she slipped some bread and pastries into her backpack. Back up in her room, she packed all other essentials she would need, hiding the kitten in her new bag. She took one last look around, and realized something.  


She hadn’t left her home for more than a day since she’d become Ladybug.  


And now she had to leave because of Ladybug. What an ironic turn of events.  


Marinette whispered a goodbye to her room, then exited through the bakery, where she said goodbye to her parents with more sincerity.  


The pet store wasn’t far, but she struggled a little trying to find what to buy. Was one brand of cat food better than another? Although Little Lady wasn’t a normal kitten (Marinette scolded herself internally for referring to her with the name Chat Noir thought up), she still wanted the best for her.  


“Can I help you?” a shopkeeper asked. Marinette nodded and asked what she would need for a new kitten.  


“There’s a whole bunch you’ll need. Here, I’ll walk you around and point things out to you, and you tell me if they sound good.” He smiled at her and began leading her around the store. Marinette tried to smile back, but something about how friendly he was, how normal he was, triggered something in her. He was friendly now, possibly happy, but so many people started out happy before something brought up negative emotions and got them akumatized. Aurore, Théo, André, too many to count. Anyone could be akumatized while she and Chat Noir were away. She could enlist Alya and Nino to take their places for the week, but they would need the Ladybug Miraculous to capture the akuma, and she needed to stay with the kitten.  


They would just have to work quickly. Maybe Hawkmoth would realize they were gone. He wouldn’t have any reason to akumatize someone if the Miraculous he wanted weren’t in Paris.  


Hopefully.  


With supplies for herself and supplies for Little Lady, Marinette ducked into an alleyway to transform, then swung her way across the city. It was a long distance, but eventually she reached the nearest forest, where all the animals had run off to. It stood before her, dense and foreboding. The kitten in her arms mewed, as if it were as nervous as her. But she stood taller, building up her courage, and stepped into the forest.


	2. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Marinette had only once been in a forest before, on a hike with her parents. Now, Ladybug was off the trails, awkwardly following the little pointer Chat had sent her showing where the cabin was. In the middle of summer, everything was in full bloom. A buzzing hung in the air from little bugs rubbing their wings together, and the trees provided a much-appreciated shade from the sun. As she neared the pointer, she could hear the rush of a river.

The cabin looked like the most perfect version of a cabin had come to life. It had a mixture of soft sunlight and shade from flanking trees, with skylights placed in just the right locations. It was made of some wood she didn’t know the name of but looked really expensive, and rose three stories high. It had a balcony off the top floor, and a large deck that included a fire pit and stairs leading down to the river, where a rowboat lay waiting passengers.

Ladybug stood awestruck, staring at the cabin, while Chat Noir walked out onto the deck to join her.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Who owns this place?!” she said. “They must be super rich or something. Is it Mayor Bourgeois’? Or maybe Jagged Stone’s? Or Gabriel Ag – ”

“Uh, I don’t know,” Chat Noir said. “But I come here often enough to know the owner never shows up.”

What Ladybug didn’t know was that while she had been getting supplies, he had been hiding away everything that would clue her in to the fact that Gabriel Agreste was the owner. As a child, Adrien had come here with his mother often, they would spend all summer here sometimes. After she disappeared, he would visit occasionally with Nathalie and his bodyguard, but he knew his father would never show up at the cabin. Too many memories. Just like the movie, and the holidays, and himself.

“Want a tour?” Chat Noir bowed and offered his hand to Ladybug.

“Maybe later. We can put our stuff down, but we should start looking for the escaped animals.” She led the way into the cabin. The inside was almost more impressive than the outside. It was large enough to run around in, but still had a cozy feel. There was a fireplace with couches and chairs around it to one side, and a fully-stocked kitchen to the other. But Ladybug didn’t have time to look around, so she set up a few things for Little Lady (the litterbox, food bowl, water) and put the rest of her stuff down against the wall. She turned to Chat Noir.

“Alright, where’s that list, Kitty?” The kitty in question was petting the other kitty, cooing over her like she was actually his baby. “Chat Noir.” He sprung to attention.

“Of course, m’lady.” He handed her the list, all 25 animals on it. She studied the options before them. The smallest animal missing was a snake, so most would be more or less easy to spot. She couldn’t figure out if it would be more important to find the predator or prey animals first, when she heard a roar that made that decision for her.

“Let’s go meet your family,” she said. The two left the cabin, making sure to close the door to keep Little Lady inside, and swung off in the direction of the sound.

In a small clearing, a lion and a tiger, neither of which are native to France, circled each other. They looked ready to pounce at any moment, growling deep in their throats. Ladybug turned to Chat Noir.

“Any ideas?”

“You’re asking me?” he said. “Don’t you usually come up with the plans?”

“Yeah, but these are big cats we’re dealing with. I thought maybe you’d know something, since you’re kind of a cat.”

“That’s purrfectly reasonable, m’lady.”

“Chat!”

“Okay, okay.” He surveyed the situation. When that didn’t offer any solutions, he tried to find some part of him that was cat-like. There must have been a reason why he acted like a cat at times, right?

“Well, we won’t be able to capture them,” he began, “so what if we tried leading them out?”

“Would they follow a laser light?”

“Maybe…or…” Chat Noir glanced back towards the cabin. “Did you get food for Little Lady?”

“Of course!”

“I’ll be right back.” He jetted off, back towards the cabin. Inside, the kitten was sleeping blissfully on the couch. Good thing to, he wasn’t sure she’d appreciate him going through her food.

Feeling a little silly, Chat stuck his nose up and sniffed. A barrage of scents filled his nostrils, with a few smelling especially delicious. It took him a second to pick them out, but once he was able to separate the most delicious ones from the others, he followed his nose to where it was. It took him past Ladybug’s supplies, past Little Lady’s food dish, into the fridge. He opened it.

Ah. He had wondered why he felt so inclined to buy lox for the cabin.

He grabbed a slab of it and rejoined Ladybug by the clearing, where she had just been perched awkwardly for a few minutes.

“They will certainly be able to smell that,” she said, crinkling her nose. And she was right. The tiger and lion stopped circling each other, noses in the air. The snapped their heads towards Chat Noir.

“Hee hee, hi.” He gave them a nervous smile.

They pounced. Chat Noir scurried away, giving himself just enough time to start bounding away on all fours. He didn’t know for sure if he would be faster than the big cats, but he held out hope all the way to the edge of the forest.

The streets of Paris weren’t really the best place to herd wild cats through. Luckily, Ladybug had swung on ahead of him and was clearing out a path to the zoo. She had just enough time to swing open the gates in each of their pens, as Chat Noir tossed some lox into each, and the animals bolted inside.

“Whew!” Ladybug said. “There’s two down.” She looked around them, where a crowd was growing. Nadja Chamack and her news crew stood just a few feet away, recapping the event for the public. “Guess Hawkmoth will know we’re not in Paris now.”

“Don’t worry, m’lady.” Chat Noir was trying to be suave, but he was still out of breath from the chase. “Hawkmoth will never find the cabin. No one knows about it besides whoever owns it, and I’m sure he doesn’t.”

Nightfall was approaching once the two reached the forest. There was an unspoken decision between them that they were done for the day. Large predators seemed like they would be the most difficult to procure, and two in one afternoon was exhausting. They were within sights of the cabin when something changed their track of mind.

A roar, deeper than the cats’. And a lumbering figure looking inside the window of the cabin.

One of the bear’s claws rose to strike, but Ladybug slung her yo-yo, wrapped it around the claw to stop it. It turned to face her, angrily letting out another roar.

“It wants Little Lady!” she told Chat Noir. His eyes widened in fear and worry, and they both got into fighting position.

The bear lunged, and the two leaped out of the way. At least now he was focused on them instead of the kitten. They zigged and zagged around him, keeping his attention but not really doing much to get him home.

“Got any ideas this time, Chat?” Ladybug asked, trying to catch her breath.

“I can’t think with that thing attacking us!”

Ladybug, however, could think faster in a dire situation. She looked around the forest for things that might be of use. She noticed below the deck of the cabin was a wheelbarrow. An idea popped into her head.

“We need to knock it out!” she said. “Can you do that without hurting it too bad?”

Chat Noir smiled. Before he started fencing, Adrien’s dad had put him through karate for enough years to get him to a red belt. Of course, a bear was very different from a human, but hopefully his superhero strength would allow him the extra punch. Pun intended.

Chat Noir kept swooping around the bear, but this time would get close enough to land some punches. Aim was tricky, he kept missing the head. He would jump in, land a hit with his baton, but was just off from the knockout point. He took a second to rest on a branch. Ladybug looked at him, as if to ask if he needed any help. He regained his hero character long enough to wink at her, then with a feline growl, lunged at the bear and hit him upside the jaw.

The bear smiled cartoonishly, its tongue sticking out. Chat Noir had landed at its feet and now was hoping to god that the punch had landed. After swirling around, the bear fell over, knocking aside bushes and flowers.

“Nice work, Kitty,” Ladybug said. She had an air of confidence about her, but that whole time she had been holding her breath. Chat Noir had gotten real close to the bear, and right after being chased by two huge cats. She hated the idea of him near teeth that could bite his face off; she hated putting him in danger like that. But it was necessary, right? At least this was the last of the large predators.

With Chat’s help, Ladybug hauled the bear into the wheelbarrow, which it barely fit in. Chat Noir backed up and surveyed the situation.

“Are we really strong enough to push that all the way to Paris, and to the zoo?” he asked.

“Not us, exactly.” She circled the wheelbarrow, pointing to the front wheel. “Prop your baton between that and that tree over there. I will keep the back end up.” She wrapped her yo-yo around the handles of the wheelbarrow, then left only a little space before tying the other end around her waist. “When I say, extend your baton as far as you can.” She climbed up the nearest tree, in the direction of Paris, and swung, monkey-bars-style, across a few branches until the wheelbarrow had lifted up its back end. “Let’s go.”

Chat Noir extended the baton, which moved a lot quicker than Ladybug had expected. She swung across branches as quick as she could, trying to both stay ahead the wheelbarrow and keep high enough so it stayed half off the ground. She kept her sights focused furiously ahead, not paying attention to anything else. She was caught off-guard when the wheelbarrow suddenly grew much heavier, and she had to stop.

Her partner ran over to meet her. “That’s as far as it extends, I guess,” he said. She nodded, but saw they had reached the edge of the forest.

“Let’s try it once more,” she said, turning the wheelbarrow to now face the direction it would go in. Chat Noir set up the baton once again, and Ladybug untied her yo-yo from both her waist and the wheelbarrow. She flung it as far as she could in the direction of the zoo, then tied the other end to the same tree as the baton. With the wire holding tight, she climbed up onto it, and positioned herself so she was hanging from her knees, crossed towards each other, facing towards the zoo. She grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and pulled them up.

This time, when Chat extended the baton, she didn’t have to think as quickly. All she needed to do was keep the back above ground and let the baton push her along with the wheelbarrow. There were some bumps in the roads that almost made her fall, but she was able to make it all the way to the gates of the zoo.

She climbed down just as Chat Noir caught up to her.

“I am so glad these suits protect us from calluses and rope burn,” she said. He smiled and the two of them hauled the wheelbarrow manually the rest of the way into the bear’s cage.

“Alright, three down, twenty-two to go.” Ladybug groaned. Chat Noir patted her on the back.

“Hey, at least the others will be much lighter.”

She gave him a small smile. She was grateful she didn’t have to do this alone. They checked in with Otis before swinging back to the cabin.

The moon was high in the sky once they got back. The heroes flopped onto the couch, more tired than any other fight had made them. Usually they wouldn’t have to worry as much about causing damage, Ladybug could miraculously revert everything back to normal. Usually they had full use of their powers, but it was very unclear to them whether or not Ladybug could use Lucky Charm. _Besides_ , Ladybug thought, _we will probably need to stay in our superhero forms the whole time, since we’re sharing a living space, and that would be difficult if Chat needed to change back after using Cataclysm_.

“So, m’lady,” Chat Noir said, “what do you think we should do for dinner?”

Ladybug had totally forgotten about dinner. Thinking about it made her realize how hungry she really was, though she also didn’t want to make anything. She bent her head back to look upside-down towards the kitchen. There was some pasta, and she knew she had brought marinara sauce.

“How does spaghetti sound?” she said.

“’When mama brings home the spaghetti’,” Chat Noir joked, mostly to himself.

“What?”

“Spaghetti sounds great!”

It took a lot of effort, but the two made it off the couch and into the kitchen. As the pasta was cooking, Ladybug refilled the food and water dishes for Little Lady. Chat Noir petted and cooed over the kitten, who was really enjoying the attention.

“You’re a cat person, huh?” Ladybug said, cocking an eyebrow.

“It would make the most sense.” Chat Noir smiled wistfully. “Actually, my family used to have a pet cat, but it died a few years ago.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry, that’s the least tragic thing about my family!” He said it like a joke, but the statement worried Ladybug. She wouldn’t press him, though. She drained the pasta and mixed it with the sauce, serving up a plate for both of them.

“So we can cross lion, tiger, and bear off the list,” Ladybug said.

“Oh my!”

Despite herself, she laughed at that. Chat Noir’s puns and jokes were much better when they weren’t trying to save Paris at the same time. After they finished, he showed her the rooms available.

“We could always share a room,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Sure, Chat!” She dropped her stuff off in a different room from the one he chose. When she turned to face him, she saw something in his eyes. She couldn’t quite read it, but there was a sense of longing, a sense of loss.

Ladybug had chosen his mother’s room.

“Are you alright?” she asked. He shook himself out of it and smiled at her. She seemed to take that well enough, so they said their goodnights and went to their separate rooms.

Ladybug spent a few minutes unpacking necessities from her bag. Luckily, there was a bathroom connected to the room, so she wouldn’t have to worry about Chat Noir seeing her detransform when she needed a shower.

Chat had seemed different today. He was mostly acting like his usual self, but she felt like she had seen a hint of a deeper side to him. She’d heard somewhere that the people who joke around the most tend to be the saddest on the inside. Could that be true for Chat Noir?

For the first time ever, Ladybug wanted to know Chat Noir’s secret identity.


End file.
